Highgate mother Della Hirsch welcomed the chance to finally hold the medical community to account for the “truly horrendous wrong that has been visited upon us” during her speech on the second day of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s preliminary hearings.

Della, whose 35-year-old son Nick died of hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products as a child, spoke at the inquiry in Westminster today.

After a fight stretching back to the 1970s, campaigners hope the independent inquiry, led by Sir Brian Langstaff, will see the actions of the NHS and Department of Health examined over the scandal, which saw at least 6,000 people contract viruses including HIV and hep C by contaminated blood products or transfusions.